Thelema's lively, all admire, Her charms, but she's too full of fire; Impatience ever racks her breast, Her heart a stranger is to rest. A jocund youth of bulky size; This nymph beheld with tender eyes, From hers his humor differed quite, Black does not differ more from white. (Voltaire)

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Once you have discovered and addressed your blocks, you are ready to do a spell. This is only a little different from what you have already been doing. In a spell you do nothing new, you do it differently. A spell is a ritual, an act carefully planned to have the greatest effect. You must do the planning, for only you know what will be the most effective ritual. Plan carefully and completely. You may want to use a script (it would be best to memorize it). You can ad lib once you're more experienced. At this point, you have enough information to develop more powerful rituals than you are likely to encounter in any book. However, since this is so different from what most of us are used to, here are some samples to give you a starting point. Feel free to use and change these rituals as you please. They are here to give you an idea of how you may want to approach things. The ritual starts in a special place. It could be out in the woods or in a special room. Ideally, you would never use this place for anything but ritual, but this may be impossible. If in the home, choose a quiet time and unplug the phone. Make sure that you are not disturbed.

Before the ritual, carefully clean and arrange the area and take a bath or wash your hands. Think about washing away the days thoughts and cares. You are now ritually purified. You should not engage in any mundane activity until after the ritual. Enter your ritual area and knock three times, to mark the beginning. From this point all your thoughts are on the ritual. Don't do anything automatically. No matter how familiar, think about every action and what it means.

Light candles and incense (only if there is no danger of fire!). Imagine the ritual area surrounded in a circle of white light. You may physically trace this circle to reinforce it. (Traditionally, all such movements are clockwise when invoking and counterclockwise when dispelling.) Repeat an act of purification. This is like the bath only more symbolic. You can hold your hand in the incense smoke and touch water from a ritual cup to your forehead, for instance. Next, relax and aum-- that is chant the mantra "ohhmmm" (or whatever works for you) to bring your mind to the proper state of alert relaxation, ready for work.

At this point you will state your will. Tell your Self and the Universe how you choose it to be. This is not merely verbalization, during ritual your word is law. What you say, is. Feel your statement with your entire being, with every sense. Use all the techniques that you have found effective. Then, let the feeling go. It is going out into the universe to do its work. End your expression with a statement like, "According to free will and for the good of all." This helps to avoid problems with karma, as long as you mean it. Do not allow other thoughts to intrude at this point, it is now time to close the ritual.

Imagine removing the white light circle (counterclockwise). Knock three times to end the ritual. Put out the candles, clean each item and put it carefully away in a special place. The ritual is only finished once you have completed all of these steps. Only then can you resume thinking about what's on the T.V. and how big a jerk your boss it. As a beginner, you should always be prepared to go through this entire procedure before you start. Even in an emergency, you should at least remove the white circle and knock (very quickly, perhaps, but do at least this much when possible). Nothing in a ritual is mundane, so it must be clearly delineated from your mundane actions. Otherwise you will dilute your spell and give the wrong messages to your Little Self. When ritual is obviously separate, your Little Self will know when to pay close attention.

Once finished, do not talk about your work. Silence is another important key to magick. If you discuss it with anyone else, they cannot help adding their thoughts. This is almost always detrimental. It is fine to work with people, then your energies multiply. But never talk about specific spells that you have done.